C3 - Get to the Point

Topic: I Think, Therefore I Am
Date: 20090714
Timing: 6"13'
Status: Qualified

Toastmaster of the evening, my dear fellow members and our most welcome guests. Tonight, I'm going to talk about the famous phrase by Rene Descartes /hehei decarh/, I think, therefore I am.

Rene Descartes was born in 1596. He was a French philosopher, known as "Father of modern philosophy", a mathematician, a scientist, and a writer who spent most of his life time in Dutch Republic. He created analytic geometry and developed Cartesian Geometry system. He also invented the superscript expression for power. And most important to tonight's subject, he brought up the fundamental concept in the field of modern philosophy, I think, therefore I am. Tonight, I want to lead everyone in this room through the basic reasoning of this French master of philosophy to understand the keys to this famous philosophical phrase - I think, therefore I am.

The reasoning that Descartes went through to reach the conclusion of I think, therefore I am, can be summarized into three major parts, assumptions, proof by induction(數學歸納法), and conclusion.

The assumptions were believes of Descartes. He believed that God and spirit exists. He believed that human are basically good. He was against scholasticism, which means he disagreed with school education.

Based on these assumptions, Descartes reached the idea that all facts can be skepticsized. That is to say facts are not equal to truth.
For example, an apple is red is a fact, not a truth. Because this statement is based on many assumptions such as I'm not color blind.
So, Descartes realized that all statements people make are actually facts, not truth.
Then, what is true? What is the truth? he asked.
If every fact is based on some assumptions, these assumptions must be sustained first in order to validate the fact depend on it.

Descartes then went to the source of thoughts, and he found the fundamental assumption which sustains all our thoughts and statements which is one must exist.
One must exist first, so his or her thoughts and statements can be sustained. If one does not exist, his or her ideas shall not exist neither.
And vice versa, if anyone acknowledges someone's thoughts, it is equal to agree that this person exists.
Therefore, Descartes made his most famous conclusion, I think, therefore I am. Meaning, I acknowledge my thoughts, so I must exist.

In summary, grand master Rene Descartes' reasoning to his famous phrase I think, therefore I am can be summarized into three major parts, assumptions, proof by induction, and conclusion. This philosophical conclusion was based on the master's life experiences and wisdom. It was proved by scientific method and the conclusion is strong and convincing. This opened the path to modern philosophy. The detailed reasoning for I think, therefore I am can be found in the book, "Discours de la méthode" written by Descartes. It has a new Traditional Chinese version published in Taiwan in 2007, called 笛卡兒談談方法. If you are interested, you can find it on line and give it a try. I hope you all enjoy tonight's talk, toastmaster of the evening.

Comment:
Specific purpose of the speech is not very clear.

Targets for next speech:
Make the specific purpose of the speech clear.

Award: